Martians would take my mom but my father is the one who raised me.

Well, clearly it's because you march like a girl...
Wow, it is impossible not to be sarcastic about the trailer!

I'm also not going to make any comments about the whiteness of the family as "normal" so the aliens stand out more so..oh look at that, I did comments on it. Bah.

My favorite lines:
"Mars needs Botox!"
"Duuuude, you march like a girl!"

Well, I can't wait to take my little brother to this fun romp! I'm sure he'll learn valuable lessons.

This disgusting premise of the movie proves that sexism and misogyny affect males, too. Judging from the title and the premise, it's quite offensive and sexist for men, because apparently men cannot be good parents, and of course, boys and men are so weak and immature and helpless and stupid and childish, they need their mommies to take care of them!!

Well, the film - like most things out of Disney - isn't their own work; it's based on the book by the same name, written by Berkeley Breathed. However, having not read the book (and having little intention of seeing this film), I won't comment further.

"The earth's most valuable resource". Sigh, I like 3d animation so much, but I won't watch this one.

Am I the only one who thinks the martians(the people in the suits) look female and that the phrase "Mars needs moms" sounds like "Mars needs woman"?

Horrific! It looks like they took the germ of sexism in BB's original story and made that the centerpiece of the project. "Men are creeps and idiots and never parents and women are servants used for vacuuming the floor HARHARHARHAR!" They didn't even try to emulate the best feature of the picture book it's based on - the visual style. They just went with uncanny-valley CGI as if that in itself is enough reason to go see a movie, no matter how insulting the story itself is.

Oh thank goodness it's not just me. I have been complaining about this movie for weeks. This is one of those things I can't talk to most people about because they will say it's just a stupid kids movie, I'm taking it too seriously, blah blah blah. Aside from the obvious implication that Mars needs moms because only moms can take care of people, I was really pissed that this movie could have just as easily been made with a girl in the starring role. It doesn't bother me that THIS movie was made with a male star, it bothers me that THEY ALL ARE.

the other issue I have is that once again, women are portrayed as hapless victims who constantly need to be rescued and that any male, even a small child, is able to rescue women from the messes they keep getting into.

"Dude, You march like a girl" ...wow, just to install the stereotypes even further,..that was really the cherry on top of this scarishly accurate reflection of the patriarchal family.

It looks terrible, and even though I haven't seen it and don't plan to, I'm sure I would agree with everyone's assessment. But I also keep thinking about Peter Pan, and how the premise of bringing Wendy to Neverland is so that she can be a mother to all the lost boys. And I think Peter Pan is one of the most excellent examples of children's literature that is both for children and for adults about childhood, and I think it's right on, including the idea that these little boys would long more for a mother figure than a father figure. Even as a feminist I can see how it's biologically, socially, and culturally more likely that children would be more attached to their mothers than their fathers. So while I doubt that Mars Needs Moms has that much going on in its head, I wonder if there's any of that going on. If not, it would just be interesting to compare a dumb little movie like that to something more intellectually advanced, like Peter Pan.

Ok - has anyone seen the movie? I'm wondering if the trailer is so obnoxious to surprise us by the moral which might be mom's got more going on than cooking and cleaning. Just a thought.

Well, there are, in fact, far more people being raised by single mothers than by single fathers in the U.S. (and I would assume in most Western countries as well). The percentage of children who don't have a father in their life has gone up quite markedly in the past 50 years or so.

And, of course it is impossible to quantify how much "parenting" is done by any particular parent, considering how that concept is something of an abstraction, but there is quite a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests that mothers do, in fact, perform a lot more parenting-related tasks than fathers do in the average American family.

So, on the surface level Disney and Breathed may have focused the plot on mothers simply so that more children could relate to it. On a slightly deeper level, I guess we could debate over whether cultural works should reflect social reality or whether they should be prescriptive. Putting fathers on par with mothers in terms of parenting skill and commitment might be nice but I think it would fall into the realm of prescriptive, because it would not reflect social reality for quite a large swath of the American populace. I say "might" be nice because I'm not convinced that even all of the individuals in the progressive, feminist camp would agree with that sentiment, that fathers are as valuable as mothers. During the Second Wave there was some rhetoric out there suggesting that the presence of a father might actually be damaging to children.

"How convenient, given that raising kids is rewarded with, basically, absolutely nothing concrete."

That's not true outside of the First World - in some places having children is an economic necessity, or at least it makes old age more economically sustainable. However, yes, raising children in the West is generally a self-less endeavor. Is there something wrong with that?

This went by rather quickly and I didn't get a good look, but were those aliens with dreadlocks doing fake "primitive, tribal" dancing? Not only sexist, but racist as well...

To me, the most ironic thing is that the people who believe that "dads are good for nothing, it's moms who parent" are often the same people who trumpet the necessity of a traditional heterosexually-partnered two parent nuclear family structure, and decry the single mother household.

@666mafiafan

Tone Argument!
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/

There seems to be many female aliens in this trailer. Does Mars need slave human women to provide the role of mother while the actual mothers are off neglecting their own children? It just doesnt make sense.

As a former marching band student, fuck you Disney! :P

Seriously though, "you march like a girl"??? It doesn't even make sense. It was funny though, as was the part where when asked to describe his mom he said "you know, she feeds me and vacuums...."

I'm sorry for being the typical lesbian in this conversation, but I think it brings up an interesting point. If this pervasive message of "only mom's can parent" rings as (I cringe when I say this, so I'll say it in quotes) "truth" with the statement of this movie and other media outlets...wouldn't two moms be an ideal situation? It's interesting that many instances in popular culture make the mother the "parent" and the dad is just there for money and sperm donation. But then they cringe at the thought of lesbian parents.

I know it has to do with the evil gay agenda...but still. It's a good point.

I understand that this conversation is really deep and everything, but did anyone else notice that the rocket was a giant phallus?

Was it just me?

Anyone?

Love this debate.

I too am furious firstly that the assumption is made that a full time parent and home maker is female and males who do this are completely ignored. We should be aiming toward a society where male stay home parenting and home making is equally as accepted as female, without exception, which means movies like this, advertisements that gender role condtion, should all be stopped.

My biggest worry, this is a kids movie, educating kids that this is the case. Thus having little girls growing up to think when they become pregnant, that they have more responsibility to care and nurture than the male. It is sexist against men, as men need equality in the home and family too. All these labels that women are more nurturing, kinder, warmer, calmer is rubbish and men are just as capable, just as capable of that bond. There are studies done, using oxytocin (which is where this so called maternal bond comes from, its the same thing let out through orgasm and choocolate). If they give the mother in birth an oxytocin suppressant and give the male oxytocin boost, guess who bonds with the baby? Yep, the male.

It's just oxytocin.

PS. On the FB site for this movie, they keep removing my comments questioning their blantant sexism and how wrong it is to gender role condition children like that. That we should be accepting men as much in that role etc........they just keep deleting it.

Actually, I took my kids to see this movie this past weekend. Both of my ten year old sons have been looking forward to seeing it ever since they first saw the trailer. Why? Because they think their mom (me) rocks and they could easily conceptualize a place with no moms being in desperate need of some.

Now, I'm normally not the kind of person to give away the ending of a movie, but in this particular case it's especially pertinent.

To address some of the comments/observations previously posted: yes, the bulk of the Martian’s portrayed in the trailer are women. Why? Because at some point in the past (it is suggested that this occurs prior to the 70’s, but the time-line is never completely clarified) one particular female Martian decided that the male Martians were inferior and “wanted to play, and hug” all of the time, instead of focusing “properly” on working effectively.

This particularly irked her, so she banished them and all males born in subsequent generations, leaving only female Martians to run the planet. The problem was that these females, following the lead of this particular militant matriarch, have absolutely no idea how to parent (effectively or otherwise). Instead, each new generation of baby girls is raised by “nanny bots” (while the baby boys are “banished”, destined to be raised (in a emotionally healthy and nurturing manner) by the formerly banished generations of males). Every 25 years, one particularly skilled earth mom is collected so that her parenting skills can be transferred to the nanny-bots; not because earth moms are better at parenting than earth dads, but because this particular Martian matriarch has no interest in fathers.

By the end of the movie, the one female Martian that helps the earth son rescue his earth mom learns of this history and realizes that the way that they have been living is not, in fact the way it has “always been” as she (and others of her generation) have been taught. She learns the meaning of “family” and “love” and works to remove the militant matriarch from power and lift the banishment of the male Martians.

So, while these debates have been well and good, they’ve been a bit off the mark.

The real socio-political issues that I see present here could be interpreted as:
1) the perceived dangers of female superiority (vs. equality among the sexes) – clearly represented by the militant matriarch and her ultimate overturn
2) the perceived dangers of a female only (i.e. lesbian) family – represented by the obvious
3) the perceived benefits of a two parent (male/female) household – again, represented by the obvious
and
4) (the perceived benefit of?) an ultimate gender-role reversal – as the male Martians become the caregivers and the females run the planet

I noticed the comment at the end of the trailer, "Dude, you march like a girl." Of course, that was an insult to the boy.

Disney is horrible. I don't know if it's getting worse or I just never noticed how bad it is. I'm definitely boycotting this one.

One of the most "man hating" and indoctrinating movies for kids I've seen in years. It pretty much craps on: men, fathers, rational feminism, and logic all in one fell swoop. A truly awful movie.